Hoping for good news isn’t enough, the Government needs to think big

DURING January, Enda Kenny is to call in all ministers on a bilateral basis to assess their report cards and drive forward government priorities.

This process won’t deal with the central weakness of his administration. They have no clearly definable strategy to lift the country out of the economic treadmill of more austerity and no growth. The workings of Cabinet are devoid of vision, creativity and innovative thinking. Rituals of annual budgets, legislative programme and implementing the programme for government are the best we can hope for. There is no big idea or new creativity. It’s sadly reminiscent of the Cowen regime, hoping good news will turn up. Leadership is confined to responding to events — this week it’s lambasting Revenue personnel for implementing tax law.

Since 2007, the recurring theme from political leaders is false optimism. Just around the corner, each next year, the economy will stabilise, recovery will ensue — growth forecasts tell the story: 1.6% in 2012; 2.4% in 2013 and 3% respectively for 2014 and 2015. We are always on the verge of an upturn. This is despite negative external prospects of double-dip risks within the eurozone and beyond. The Taoiseach repeatedly asserts, we will return to the sovereign bond markets by the end of this year. He gets this advice from the department of finance and NTMA, whose boss John Corrigan asserts he will sell treasury bills again in 2012.